Wars in Lombardy

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Wars in Lombardy
Battle of Anghiari
Date 1423–1454 Location Lombardy Result balance of power and a period of stability
Belligerents
Venetian Republic Florentine Republic (until 1450) Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Savoy March of Montferrat	Marquisate of Mantua Republic of Lucca Republic of Siena Florentine Republic (from 1450) Kingdom of France
Commanders and leaders
Francesco Foscari Francesco Bussone Carlo I Malatesta Taddeo d'Este Niccolò Fortebraccio Jacopo Piccinino	Francesco Sforza Cosimo de' Medici Niccolò Piccinino Niccolò Fortebraccio René of Anjou

The Wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy. They lasted from 1423 until the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. During their course, the political structure of Italy was transformed: out of a competitive congeries of communes and city-states emerged the five major Italian territorial powers that would make up the map of Italy for the remainder of the 15th century and the beginning of the Italian Wars at the turn of the 16th century. They were Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. Important cultural centers of Tuscany and Northern Italy—Siena, Pisa, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara—became politically marginalized.

The wars, which were both a result and cause of Venetian involvement in the power politics of mainland

After the failure in Romagna, Florence tried to defy the Visconti from the Ligurian side, by allying with the Aragonese of Naples. However, both a fleet of 24 Aragonese galleys sent to Genoa to move it to fight against the Milanese, and a land army, were unsuccessful. In the meantime, Piccinino and the other condottiero Francesco Sforza had been hired by Visconti, who also sent an army to invade Tuscany under Guido Torello. He subsequently defeated the Florentine army at Anghiari and Faggiuola.

The Florentine disaster was countered by the pact signed on 4 December 1425 with the

Visconti regained the lands occupied by Florence in Liguria, but had to renounce the area of

Second campaign

The peace did not last very long. Under advice by the emperor

Visconti could count on some of the best condottieri of the time, such as Sforza, della Pergola, Piccinino and

The League's army was first beaten at Soncino (17 May 1431), while Luigi Colonna defeated the Venetians at Cremona, Cristoforo Lavello pushed back the Montferrat troops, and Piccinino established strong positions in Tuscany. Another source of dismay for the revived League was the destruction of the Po Fleet under Niccolò Trevisani near Pavia (23 June). In 1431 Visconti also found a precious ally in Amadeus VIII of Savoy in exchange for his help against John Jacob of Montferrat.

Venice won a naval victory over Genoa at

The peace of Ferrara in May 1433 institutionalized an unsteady status quo. The Florentine war with Lucca and her allies likewise resulted in a return to the previous status quo, but the major League leader's lack of successes had lost much charisma: the Venetian doge Francesco Foscari was on the verge of resigning, while Cosimo de' Medici was imprisoned and confined in Padua. Another result of the peace agreement was the reduction of Montferrat to a satellite of Savoy.

Fourth campaign

In the so-called "fourth war" broader questions were personalized in the combats among antagonistic

The Milanese were repeatedly defeated in Tuscany and at Soncino (14 June 1440). The war seemed won for Venice, and Sforza went to Venice to receive the honour of a triumph. However, Piccinino returned from Romagna in February 1441 and crushed Sforza's garrison at Chiari. Sforza besieged Martinengo, but when Piccinino cut him off from any possibility of retreat the situation looked again favourable to Milan. Believing that the victory was now in his hands, he asked from Visconti the signiory of Piacenza in exchange for it. The lord of Milan preferred instead to appeal to Sforza for an agreement.

On the field of Cavriana, Sforza acted as mediator between the two sides, accomplishing the act for which Carmagnola had lost his head. No large territorial changes were made in the ensuing Peace of Cremona of 20 November 1441: Venice kept Ravenna, Florence the Casentino. Piccinino was awarded the lands of Orlando Pallavicino in the Parmense, while Filippo Maria Visconti recognized the independence of Genoa and again promised to stop interfering with the situation in Tuscany and Romagna.

Fifth campaign

Off the battlefields, important dynastic and political changes occurred: Francesco Sforza entered the service of Visconti and married his daughter, Bianca Maria Visconti, while Florence took a new turn under Cosimo de' Medici. After Visconti died in 1447, Francesco Sforza entered Milan in triumph (May 1450).^[e] Two coalitions now formed: Sforza's Milan allied with Medici's Florence on the one hand, faced Venice and the Aragonese Kingdom of Naples on the other. The main theater of war remained Lombardy.

In April 1452 the Republic of Venice declared war on Duchy of Milan, who passed the Adda river and invaded the Bergamo and Brescia's counties. However an initial milanese success with the conquest of Bergamo and a big part of the Bassa Bresciana, during the spring 1453 Jacopo Piccinino, commander of the venetian army, retaked the lost territories. His offensive stopped with the siege of Pontevico, between 25 and 29 May, when Serenissima brought back Pontevico, an important port and stronghold along the Oglio river. During summer 1453, Piccinino tried many times to get an important success on Sforza's army, without ever achieving a decisive victory. Contrariwise, on 15 August the milanese army, after the Battle of Ghedi, conquered Ghedi and a big part of Bassa Bresciana.

During the autumn, Francesco Sforza conjoined with his ally, René of Anjou (Count of Anjou and King of Naples), who commanded the French army. So, the combined Franco-Milanese army could count on about 20.000 infantrymen and 3.500 knights: between 16 and 19 October, it successfully sieged the Castle of Pontevico and, on 17 November it successfully sieged Orzinuovi. So, the Bassa Bresciana become totally occupied by the Duke of Milan and the Count of Anjou. The last venetian cities in Lombardy were Brescia, Bergamo and Crema.

In the early 1454, the situation get upset: the french soldiers, jaded by the war, peeved due to the continuous clashes with the milanese ones and aware of the fact that their tactics were inferior to the Italian ones, decided to leave the war, with the accord of René of Anjou. So, the french army left the war and Milan and Venice decided to achieve peace. In April they reached the

• War of Ferrara

Notes